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Thursday, 22 January 2009

Dominic Bisignano "From Burger it Came"

My talented friends at Short of the Week have been doing a daily review of the winners at The Sundance Festival. I was given a very remarkable movie though was somewhat late with my copy. So with apologies for that and a spot of advice to visit their site here's my effort dashed off prior to going dancing!

Dominic Bisignano made his movie, From Burger it Came, about a young boy contracting the Aids virus whilst at CalArts, er making the movie, not contracting Aids! The six minute movie is an amalgam of different styles of animation narrated by the boy himself and his mom in what Dominic describes as a "round the camp-fire" style though I'd add the word "confessional". She's naturally enough concerned for her son in all respects, even including the possibility of his eloping with the Moonies. Moms worry themselves with things like that. Or Flying Saucers. She (and he) put down his problems to transferring from Catholic School to Public School. Traumas like that have a debilitating effect on one's adolescence. Back to the disease. How exactly he acquired Aids is not exactly clear though it appears to be largely the responsibility of a contaminated hamburger consumed in the classroom. Hamburgers are the root of all evil and guilt, for a good Catholic boy in a non-Catholic school. Some homespun advice from Mom and semi-official advice later, leads to a period of her changing her job, abstaining from the cup in communion and instructing her boy to stay clear of sharp toys. All goes well until he has cereals at his friend Ryan's house,who inadvertently loses his trousers and throws a puppet at the boy's face. It's Aids time again and this time almost too much for mom and son to bear. Made with Mirage, now TVPaint, the hilarious mix of styles, from real images of hamburgers, black and white movie and gaudy colour conspire to share one modern nuclear family's guilt. You'll love it. Suburban angst. The link is to the festival though you'd better get there quick as iTunes is offering it as a free download for only a few more days. And visit the guys at Short of the Week.